File:Royal Opera House - Bow Street, London - Floral Hall (6446851355).jpg

Walking to the Strand to get to our theatre to see Crazy For You. Going down Bow Street.

Near Covent Garden.

This is the Royal Opera House on Bow Street in London. Only got these close up shots as we went past. Didn't go back this way later that night (we went back to Leicester Square Underground not Covent Garden).

The Royal Opera House is Grade I listed.

Royal Opera House, Westminster

TQ 3080 NW and 3081 SW CITY OF WESTMINSTER BOW STREET, WC2 59/22 ;72/ 5 9.1.70 Royal Opera House, Covent Garden

G.V. I

Opera house. Rebuild of 1857-58 by E.M. Barry. Stucco and stone, slate roof. Monumental Augustan classicism tinged with Italiante. Front 7 bays wide. Imposing, pedimented, giant Corinthian hexastyle portico raised on tall rusticated podium now with foyer doors but originally a porte cochere. The flanking bays are framed by coupled giant pilasters and contain on portico level niches with statues of Melpomene and Thalia by Rossi whilst behind the portico is a long and partially altered bas relief frieze by Flaxman salvaged from Smirke's theatre of 1808-9. Prominent crowning cornice and panelled parapet surmounted by urn finials. The balcony level of portico has had a later C.19 crush bar conservatory inserted. Return elevations articulated by plain giant pilasters above podium. Very fine interior and auditorium with few alterations to Barry's scheme, horse-shoe tiers beneath saucer dome on elliptical arches and pendentives, enriched proscenium, the sounding board with relief ornament; rich plasterwork etc. Stage retains most extensive installation of Asphaleria machinery in London: 1899-1902 by Edwin O. Sachs. Present building the successor of Theatres Royal and Operas since 1731, still under Royal patent. Stuccoed extension in same style to west with fly tower, 1980.

Survey of London; Vol. XXXV.

This is the Floral Hall at the Royal Opera House. Grade II listed.

Floral Hall, Westminster

1900/59/26 BOW STREET WC2 1900/72/6 COVENT GARDEN 15-Jan-1973 FLORAL HALL

COVENT GARDEN WC2 COVENT GARDEN FLORAL HALL

II

Originally a multi-purpose space for hire alongside the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and now a bar and restaurant space with entrance, cloaks and lavatories to ground floor and with basements beneath. Floral Hall of 1858-9 by Edward Middleton Barry; roof rebuilt in different form in 1956 after fire damage; whole building taken down and then the greater part re-erected and refurbished in 1997-9 by Jeremy Dixon and Edward Jones with components of the new roof structure by Graham Welding and D.M. Foundries.

MATERIALS: Cast iron and glass on concrete and stone ground floor and basements.

PLAN: Rectangular footprint.

EXTERIOR: The main façade, which abuts (standing to the left of) the Royal Opera House, is a spectacular Italianate essay in cast iron and glass. It is six bays wide and its main part two storeys high. The two central bays are recessed, and all six have tall, round-headed windows which run continuously across the front with elaborately-cast spandrels to the arches. The bays are divided by pilasters with cast raised-ring decoration. Rising above the four central bays is a large radial fanlight with elaborate sunburst glazing panels. The semi-circular glazed roof is of the later 1990s. The glass and iron Hall of 1858-9 stands upon a new ground floor with basements beneath constructed during the later 1990s. The ground-floor front is faced with a dark, granite-like stone, and has six large openings (four windows, with double doors to either side).

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: The Floral Hall is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

• As a fine example of Victorian technological innovation despite its dismantling and re-erection in the 1990s;
• For the high quality of its design and decorative elements;
• As an example of the work of the eminent Victorian architect EM Barry;
• For group value with the same architect's Grade I listed Royal Opera House, which it was originally designed to complement;

The roof, mezzanine floors and ground floor/basement, all of the 1990s, are of lesser significance.